There are major medical and social problems associated with chronic substance abuse. At the core of these public health concerns is the manifestation of behavior commonly called addiction. Although addiction is often separated into alcohol and drug abuse, both frequently occur in the same individuals, and there is a prevailing opinion that common mechanisms underlie the neurobiological and environmental basis of addiction to alcohol and substance abuse. Both alcohol and drug abuse research have used similar, multi-disciplinary, scientific approaches to understand the addiction process. The data gathered from these studies will reach a critical mass in the coming year, such that precise mechanisms suggested at each level of analysis can be compared and contrasted across alcohol and other drugs of abuse. We believe that a critical review of the findings from a wide range of approaches investigating the predisposition, neurobiological mechanisms, epidemiological consequences and treatment outcomes will significantly advance our understanding of the addiction process. Further we believe that a venue that offers leading scientists, scientists early in their career and students the opportunity to candidly discuss their research and hypotheses concerning common pathways of addiction will bring consensus across scientific disciplines and set the course of future collaborative approaches to the study of addiction. Thus, the focus of the 2001 FASEB Summer Research Conference will be on the Commonalties and Differences in the Mechanisms of Alcohol and Other Drugs of Abuse. The conference will be held August 4-9, 2001, at the Omni in Tucson Arizona. The forum of The Summer Research Conferences provides an atmosphere that is conducive for presentation of up-to-date research findings in an interactive environment. There is only a single symposium or poster session at any given time and all participants dine together at every meal. To ensure an interactive environment, attendees will be limited to 157 participants and 43 faculty. The format includes invited presentations featuring prominent investigators with 15 minutes of discussion for every 30 minutes of formal presentation. There will also be a poster session limited to 50 posters, primarily from young investigators and student trainees.